How Canada is fighting the war on talent
Wednesday, December 9th, 2020
… evidence suggests Canada has largely reversed its brain drain. This country’s fast-growing technology sector is more than holding its own in the global race for talent, even after the deep economic shock of the pandemic… there are nearly 100,000 more jobs now in so-called STEM disciplines – science, technology, engineering and math – in this country than there were before the pandemic. There is still a gaping hole in Canada’s job market, but not for these people.
Tags: economy, globalization, immigration, standard of living
Posted in Delivery System | No Comments »
Taxing the rich akin to ‘ethnic cleansing’ – seriously?
Sunday, April 15th, 2012
Apr. 15, 2012
The top 1 per cent of Canadians pocketed nearly 14 per cent of all income in 2007, compared with 8 per cent in 1982… The most commonly heard argument against taxing the rich is that it’s an attack on wealth-creators; the rich will simply move to lower tax jurisdictions or work less… The middle class is being squeezed by stagnant incomes, pension clawbacks and the steady erosion of government entitlements, such as Old Age Security. Basic fairness suggests all segments of society should share the burden.
Tags: ideology, tax
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
In Canada, unlike the U.S., the American dream lives on
Tuesday, January 17th, 2012
Jan. 16, 2012
… the U.S. is richer, but it’s also significantly more unequal, and a lot less mobile… For now, at least, the dream of upward mobility in Canada is still alive. Canadians can thank a legacy of sound public policy and a more progressive tax system… [But] Ottawa and most of the provinces are running large budget deficits, and education and health care are already targets as governments hunt for savings. [and] Rising income inequality is chipping away at the opportunities of future generations… wealthy Canadians may be forming exclusionary institutions in a drift toward Americanization.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Delivery System | No Comments »
Five ways to boost Canada’s economy
Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012
Jan. 01, 2012
Keep Canada’s future retirees from sliding into poverty… Six leading Canadian pension experts… recently urged an expansion of the CPP… Build critical infrastructure… From crumbling bridges and choked roads to inadequate public transit, the needs outstrip available funds… Deregulate the relics of the pre-Internet economy… Low-cost competitive telecom services are a must-have… Unleash the innovation potential of Canadian companies… Canada spends 1 per cent of GDP on business R&D, compared to 1.6 per cent among wealthy countries
Tags: budget, globalization, ideology, pensions, standard of living
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So-called tax breaks don’t shrink governments, they swell deficits
Monday, December 26th, 2011
Dec. 25, 2011
According to the theory, tax cuts don’t just spur private investment, they actually starve governments of the food they need to grow. The result is that swelling deficits quickly force governments to tighten their belts and become smaller… A thought-provoking study by Texas A&M economists Joseph Ura and Erica Socker concluded that “starving the beast” does exactly the opposite of the theory. And it’s at the root of the fiscal mess in the U.S. Tax cuts actually increase demand for government services…
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
Employment Insurance system unjust and inefficient, report finds
Thursday, November 17th, 2011
Nov. 15, 2011
Fewer than half of jobless Canadians get EI. That’s down from about 80 per cent in the mid-1990s, when Ottawa made the program less generous to save money. “The number of people outside Canada’s social safety net is growing and growing,” said Mr. Mendelsohn, an academic and former top federal and Ontario government official… In some parts of the country, work is scheduled around the seasons to squeeze the more out of EI. It isn’t efficient, says Arthur Sweetman… People are sitting at home when they could be productive.” Employers have also learned to exploit the system.
Tags: ideology, rights, standard of living
Posted in Delivery System | No Comments »
A broken vow, and wasteful excess, on business subsidies
Monday, August 1st, 2011
Aug. 01, 2011
…the Conservatives cut the corporate tax rate from 22.5 per cent to 16.5 per cent, with a further reduction to 15 per cent slated for next year. Business subsidies weren’t cut. Instead, they soared… the regional development agencies… will hand out more than $1-billion this year, with a chunk of that money going to businesses that could, and probably should, be getting the money from their local banker… If Canada had a budget surplus and there weren’t other more crying needs, maybe the spending wouldn’t seem so glaringly wasteful.
Tags: budget, ideology, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
The economy: How the parties differ
Saturday, April 23rd, 2011
Apr. 23, 2011
Health care and the economy are the two issues Canadians consistently say mean the most to them, but they’re not getting that much substantive air time in the campaign. With this primer, The Globe and Mail addresses that. In this special feature, economic-policy reporter Barrie McKenna applies a reality check to the three main parties’ fiscal platforms.
Tags: budget, economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Corporate taxes: to cut or not to cut?
Tuesday, April 19th, 2011
Apr. 18, 2011
In just five years, Canada has gone from having the highest business taxes in the Group of Seven industrialized nations to the lowest. The federal corporate tax rate is on a course to reach 15 per cent next year, down from 28 per cent at the start of the decade – the result of successive cuts by both Liberal and Conservative governments… Most provinces have matched those breaks, saving businesses billions of dollars a year. But in the wrenching aftermath of the financial crisis and massive corporate bailouts, has the global rush to relieve the tax burden on businesses gone too far?
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, poverty, standard of living, tax
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Probing the pledge: The Tories’ flawed tax break for families
Friday, April 1st, 2011
Mar. 28, 2011
… there are better ways to achieve similar social policy objectives… investments in child care or parental leave, and tax measures that benefit people at the lowest income levels… if the goal is to lower Canadians’ tax burden, just cut income-tax rates for everyone or remove the lowest income earners from the tax rolls.
Tags: ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
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